Moving in the right direction. Maybe I'll convert to Lyx: a real
document processor ;-)
--
Joe Golden /_\ www.triangul.us /_\ People, Ideas, Connections
Stanley Brinkerhoff wrote:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AV6h7KQIZVQFZGduOWY0cjRfMTZndHFoY3Zndw&hl=en
<http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AV6h7KQIZVQFZGduOWY0cjRfMTZndHFoY3Zndw&hl=en>
Group editing, aka, croudsourcing.
Stan
On Tue, Mar 9, 2010 at 12:00 PM, Brett Johnson <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
I took Stanley's text below and formatted it...
Pages match the original - hence the whitespace.
--
Brett Johnson
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
Stanley Brinkerhoff wrote:
Easier to read?
State of Vermont
Open Source Software and Open Standards
Policy and Guidelines
SOV - Open Source Software and Open Standards Policy
Contents
1.0 Introduction
............................................................................................................................................
3
1.1 Authority
.........................................................................................................................................
3
1.2 Purpose
............................................................................................................................................
3 .
1.3 Scope
..............................................................................................................................................
3
This policy is applicable to all agencies and departments
...................................................................
3
2.0 Policy
......................................................................................................................................................
3
2.1 Guidelines
.......................................................................................................................................
4
Appendix A: Definition of Open Source Software and Open Standards
....................................................... 6
Page 2 ofa
.
SOV - Open Source Software and Open Standards Policy
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Authority
VSA 22 § 901 (1), authorizes the Department of Information and
Innovation
"to provide
direction and oversight for all activities directly related to
information
technology and
security in state government."
1.2 Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to encourage departments and
agencies to
consider the
use of open source software and proprietary software that
incorporates or
utilizes open
standards when making decisions about procurement of software
solutions.
Open source software presents opportunities for agencies and
departments to
implement solutions without incurring the cost of acquisition and
maintenance of .
licenses that are generally required for proprietary software
solutions.
Therefore,
agencies and departments should consider the use of open source
software
solutions
and open standards as part of the procurement process. This
generally means
that an
investigation of potential open source software solutions should be
conducted prior to
issuing a bid for proprietary software solutions, and that the
use of open
standards
should be included as part of a bid for proprietary software
solutions.
Agencies and departments should also consider the use of open source
languages,
libraries, open development platforms and open protocols for the
development
of
custom solutions.
1.3 Scope
This policy is applicable to all agencies and departments.
2.0 Policy
Open source software often has a lower initial cost as compared with
proprietary
software solutions, primarily because there is usually no direct
charge for
licenses.
However, there may be additional costs related to the selection
of an open
source
software solution. Therefore:
a. Decisions on whether to utilize open source software should
be made
within the
context of total cost of ownership. The total cost of ownership
includes
both fixed
costs (direct purchases and licensing) and operational costs for
support,
testing,
upgrades, maintenance and training.
Page 3 ofS
SOy - Open Source Software and Open Standards Policy
b. Each agency and department should carefully review their business
requirements for technology solutions as they consider new projects.
c. The selection of any software solution, whether open source or
proprietary,
should be based on whether the proposed solution meets the business
objectives of the department or agency. Agencies and Departments
may be
asked to document that they have vetted opportunities to
consider open
source
software as part of the contracting process.
2.1 Guidelines
• Because participation in the ongoing development and
improvement of OSS is
the underlying basis for the promotion of OSS solutions,
departments and
agencies should consider the extent to which they may wish to
actively
participate in development of OSS solutions that fall short of
the project
requirements for which the solution is used.
• Requests for Proposals should require that software vendors
clearly
identify
whether their solutions are fully functional using open
standards and, if
not, to
specifically identify any proprietary or closed specification
standards for
which
they do not support a fully functional open alternative.
Departments may
give
preference to proprietary software solutions that implement open
standards
over
proprietary solutions that do not and may include the degree to
which a
proprietary software solution utilizes open standards as part of
the Request
for
Proposal evaluation criteria.
• When scheduling the implementation of any new software
solution, agencies
and
departments need to be careful not to interfere with or diminish the
effective use
of software solutions that have already been adopted.
• While the adoption of most open source solutions usually does
not involve
payments for licenses, there are a number of different types of
open source
licenses that control how open source solutions may be used.
Departments are
advised to be aware of both the type of open source license and any
requirements or restrictions that may be incorporated as part of the
license.
Since the licensing requirements can directly impact agency
operations,
consultation with the Attorney General's office prior to
executing a license
agreement for open source solutions is advisable.
Page 40f8
SOV - Open Source Software and Open Standards Policy
• The acquisition of open source solutions, as with any proprietary
software, is
subject to the contracting requirements of Bulletin 3.5.
See Appendix A at the end of this document for a description of the
distribution terms
related to Open Source Software and Open Standards.
Page 5 of8
SOV - Open Source Software and Open Standards Policy
Appendix A: Definition of Open Source Software and Open
Standards
The distribution terms of open-source software must comply with the
following criteria:
1. Free Redistribution
The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving
away the
software as a component
of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from
several
different sources. The
license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale.
2. Source Code
The program must include source code, and must allow
distribution in source
code as well as
compiled form. Where some form of a product is not distributed
with source
code, there must
be a well-publicized means of obtaining the source code for no
more than a
reasonable
reproduction cost preferably, downloading via the Internet
without charge.
The source code
must be the preferred form in which a programmer would modify
the program.
Deliberately
obfuscated source code is not allowed. Intermediate forms such
as the output
of a
preprocessor or translator are not allowed.
3. Derived Works
The license must allow modifications and derived works, and must
allow them
to be distributed
under the same terms as the license of the original software.
4. Integrity of the Author's Source Code
The license may restrict source-code from being distributed in
modified form
only ifthe license
allows the distribution of "patch files" with the source code
for the
purpose of modifying the
program at build time. The license must explicitly permit
distribution of
software built from
modified source code. The license may require derived works to
carry a
different name or
version number from the original software.
5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups
The license must not discriminate against any person or group of
persons.
6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor
Page 60f8
SOV - Open Source Software and Open Standards Policy
The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the
program in a
specific field of
endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from
being used in a
business, or from
being used for genetic research.
7. Distribution of License
The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the
program is
redistributed
without the need for execution of an additional license by those
parties.
8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product
The rights attached to the program must not depend on the
program's being
part of a particular
software distribution. If the program is extracted from that
distribution
and used or distributed
within the terms of the program's license, all parties to whom
the program
is redistributed
should have the same rights as those that are granted in
conjunction with
the original software
distribution. .
9. License Must Not Restrict Other Software
The license must not place restrictions on other software that is
distributed along with the
licensed software. For example, the license must not insist that
all other
programs distributed
on the same medium must be open-source software.
10. License Must Be Technology-Neutral
No provision ofthe license may be predicated on any individual
technology or
style of interface.
Open Standardsl
1. Availability: Open Standards are available for all to read
and implement.
2. Maximize End-User Choice: Open Standards create a fair,
competitive
market for
implementations of the standard. They do not lock the customer
in to a
particular
vendor or group.
3. No Royalty: Open Standards are free for all to implement,
with no royalty
or fee.
Certification of compliance by the standards organization may
involve a fee.
4. No Discrimination: Open Standards and the organizations that
administer
them do not
favor one implementer over another for any reason other than the
technical
standards
compliance of a vendor's implementation. Certification
organizations must
provide a
path for low and zero-cost implementations to be validated, but
may also
provide
enhanced certification services.
5. Extension or Subset: Implementations of Open Standards may be
extended,
or offered
in subset form. However, certification organizations may decline
to certify
subset
implementations, and may place requirements upon extensions (see
Predatory
Practices).
Page 7 of8
SOV - Open Source Software and Open Standards Policy
6. Predatory Practices: Open Standards may employ license terms
that protect
against
subversion of the standard by "embrace and extend tactics". The
licenses
attached to
the standard may require the publication of reference
information for
extensions, and a
license for all others to create, distribute, and sell software
that is
compatible with the
extensions. An Open Standard may not otherwise prohibit extensions.
Bruce Perens, httP:U8ere~s.comfOpenStandardsfDefinition.html
Issuing Entity: Office of the Secretary, Agency of Administration·
Approved: __r."' ,J....;{ L=-=UL=----t*'.L....' ---- Date:
-..o::kf-I=if'-/-O-,-I' _
Secretary of Administration
Page 8 of8
On Tue, Mar 9, 2010 at 11:29 AM, joe golden <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Has the State finally come to its senses? Please peruse this
doc closely.
Does it have teeth? Will people read it?
It certainly seems to be the real deal. Section 1.2, page 3
says "... an
investigation of potential open source software solutions
should be
conducted prior to issuing a bid for proprietary software
solutions, ..."
This could be huge for Open Sourcerers.
Can someone convert the damn PDF image of the doc to a text
format. That
should make for easier dissemination and discussion. (This
is not a
droll/troll ;-) )
Note that the Euros are aware of this:
http://www.openforumeurope.org/press-room/latest-news/vermont-adopts-open-source-software-policy
Happy Techno Spring.
--
Joe Golden /_\ www.triangul.us <http://www.triangul.us> /_\
People, Ideas, Connections
